Austin Clarke (poet)
Austin Clarke (May 9, 1896 - March 19, 1974) was one of the leading Irish poets of the generation after W.B. Yeats. He also wrote plays, novels and memoirs. Life Youth and education Clarke was born in Dublin, one of 4 (and the only son) of 12 children of Ellen Patten (Browne) and Augustine Clarke to survive infancy. He was educated at Belvedere College 1905-1912, except for 1 term spent at Mungret College, co. Limerick. In 1912 he entered University College Dublin (UCD), earning a B.A. in English language and literature in 1915, and an M.A. in 1916.Maurice Harmon, Clarke, Austin, University College Dublin. Web, Jan. 18, 2017. Early career In 1917 he was appointed assistant lecturer in English at UCD, replacing Thomas MacDonagh, who had been executed after the Easter Rising. That same year he published his 1st book, The Vengeance of Fionn a long narrative poem retelling an Ossianic legend. It met with critical acclaim and, unusually for a first book of poetry, went to a 2nd edition. Between this and the 1938 collection Night and Morning, Clarke published a number of collections, Theatre years Between 1938 and 1955, Clarke published no new lyric or narrative poetry. He was co-founder of the Lyric Theatre Company and wrote a number of verse plays for them. He also worked as a journalist and had a weekly poetry programme on radio. It seems likely that he also experienced some kind of personal crisis during this time and this had significant consequences for his later poetry. Clarke published 3 novels: The Bright Temptation (1932), The Singing Men at Cashel (1936), and The Sun Dances at Easter (1952). All of these were banned by the Irish Censorship Board. Return to poetry Clarke returned to publishing with the 1955 collection Ancient Lights, and was to continuing writing and publishing prolifically for the rest of his life. In all he produced some 20 volumes of poetry. In 1943 Clarke set up the Bridge Press to publish limited editions of his own work, which allowed him the freedom to publish work that many mainstream Irish publishers of the time might have been reluctant to handle. He also published 2 volumes of memoirs, Twice Round the Black Church (1962) and A Penny in the Clouds (1968), and a number of scattered critical essays and book reviews. While all of these prose writings are of interest, Clarke's reputation rests firmly on his poetry. His Collected Poems were published in 1974, and a Selected Poems in 1976. Family In 1920 Clarke married Cornelia (Lia) Cummins. The marriage effectively lasted only a few days, and Clarke spent several months in St. Patrick's Hospital recovering from it, but they did not divorce before Cummins died in 1943. Clarke met, had three sons with, and later married (1945) Norah Esmerelda Patricia Walker (1900-1985), granddaughter of Matt Harris, Member of Parliament for East Galway from 1885 to 1890.Mary Shine Thompson, Clarke, Augustine Joseph (1896-1974)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004, accessed 17 Feb 2008. Writing Clarke's early poetry clearly shows the influence of Yeats. All of his collections published before 1938, to one extent or another, can be seen as being written in the shadow of Yeats. There was, however, one significant difference; unlike the older poet, Clarke was a Catholic, and themes of guilt and repentance run through this early work. Although he continued to use the same Gaelic-derived technical means after his 1955 return to publishing, this late poetry is markedly different from the earlier work. Many of the poems he then wrote were satires of the Irish church and state, while others were sensual celebrations of human sexuality, free of the guilt of the earlier poems. He also published the intensely personal Mnemosyne Lay in Dust, which is a poem sequence detailing the fictional Maurice Devanes's nervous breakdown and subsequent recovery. Clarke also came to admire the work of more avant-garde poets as Ezra Pound and Pablo Neruda, about both of whom he wrote poems. A number of the late long poems, such as, for instance, the 1971 Tiresias, show the effects of reading these poets in their looser formal structures. Clarke's main contribution to Irish poetry was the rigour with which he used technical means borrowed from classical Irish language poetry when writing in English. Effectively, this meant writing English verse based not so much on meter as on complex patterns of assonance, consonance, and half rhyme. Describing his technique to Robert Frost, Clarke said "I load myself down with chains and try to wriggle free." Recognition Clarke lived beside the bridge in the south Dublin suburb of Templeogue. The new Templeogue bridge was renamed The Austin Clarke Bridge Publications Poetry *''The Vengeance of Fionn. Dublin & London: Maunsel, 1917. *''Pilgrimage, and other poems. London: George Allen & Unwin, 1920. *''The Fires of Baal. Dublin & London: Maunsel & Roberts, 1921. *The Sword of the West. Dublin & London: Maunsel & Roberts, 1921. *''The Cattle Drive in Connaught, and other poems. London: George Allen & Unwin, 1925. *''Pilgrimage, and other poems''. London: George Allen & Unwin, 1929. *''The Collected Poems of Austin Clarke'' . London: George Allen & Unwin, 1936; New York: Macmillan, 1936. *''Night and Morning Poems''. Dublin: Orwell Press, 1938. *''New Poems''. Dublin: Orwell Press, 1938. *''Ancient Lights: Poems and satires: First series''. Templeogue, Ireland: Bridge Press, 1955. *''Too Great a Vine: Poems and satires: Second series''. Templeogue, Ireland: Bridge Press, 1957. *''The Horse Eaters: Poems and satires: Third series''. Templeogue, Ireland: Bridge Press, 1960. *''Later Poems''. Dublin: Dolmen Press, 1961. *''Forget Me Not''. Dublin: Dolmen Press, 1962. *''Flight to Africa, and other poems''. Dublin: Dolmen Press, 1963. *''Poems''. London & New York: Oxford University Press, 1964. *''Mnemosyne Lay in Dust''. Dublin: Dolmen Press / London: Oxford University Press, 1966. *''Old Fashioned Pilgrimage, and other poems''. Dublin: Dolmen Press / London: Oxford University Press, 1967. *''A Sermon on Swift, and other poems''. Dublin: Dolmen Press, 1968. *''The Echo at Coole, and other poems'' (edited by John Montague & Liam Miller). Dublin: Dolmen Press, 1968. *''Tiresias: A poem''. Templeogue, Ireland: Bridge Press, 1971. *''Poems''. Dublin: (3 volumes), Dolmen Press, 1974. Volume I: 1917-1938, Volume II: 1955-1966, Volume III: 1967-1974. *''Collected Poems'' (edited by Liam Miller). London: Dublin: Dolmen Press / London & New York: Oxford University Press, 1974. *''Selected Poems'' (edited by Thomas Kinsella). Dublin: Dolmen Press / Winston-Salem, NC: Wake Forest University Press, 1976. *''Collected Poems'' (edited by R. Dardis Clarke). Manchester, UK: Carcanet Press, 2008. Plays *''The Son of Learning: A poetic comedy in three acts''. London: George Allen & Unwin, 1927; Dublin: Dolmen Press, 1964. *''The Bright Temptation: A romance''. London: George Allen & Unwin, 1932; New York: Morrow, 1932. *''Sister Eucharia: A play in three scenes''. Dublin: Orwell Press, 1939. *''Black Fast: A poetic farce in one act''. Dublin: Orwell Press, 1941. *''The Viscount of Blarney, and other plays''. Dublin: Bridge Press, 1944. *''The Second Kiss: A light comedy''. Dublin: Bridge Press, 1946. *''Collected Plays''. Dublin: Dolmen Press, 1963. *''The Impuritans: A play in one act''. Dublin: Dolmen Press, 1973. *''The Third Kiss: A comedy in one act''. Dublin: Dolmen Press, 1976. *''Liberty Lane: A ballad play of Dublin''. Dublin: Dolmen Press, 1978. *''Selected Plays of Austin Clarke'' (edited by Mary Shine Thompson). Gerrards Cross, UK: Colin Smythe, 2005. Novels *''The Bright Temptation: A romance''. London: George Allen & Unwin, 1932. *''The Singing Men of Cashel''. London: George Allen & Unwin, 1936. *''The Sun Dances at Easter: A romance'', London: Andrew Melrose, 1952. Non-fiction *''First Visit to England, and other memories''. Dublin: Bridge Press / London: Williams & Norgate, 1945. *''Poetry in Modern Ireland'' (illustrated by Louis le Brocquy). Dublin: C.O. Lochlainn, 1951. *''Twice Round the Black Church: Early memories of Ireland and England''. Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1968; Dublin: Moytura Press, 1990. *''A Penny in the Clouds: More memories of Ireland and England''. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1968. *''The Celtic Twilight and the Nineties''. Dublin: Dolmen Press, *''Reviews and Essays'' (edited by Gregory A. Schirmer). Gerrards Cross, UK: C. Smythe, 1995. Translated *''Two Interludes Adapted from Cervantes: The student from Salamanca, La cueva de Salamanca; & The silent lover, El viejo celoso''. Dublin: Dolmen Press, 1968. Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.Search results = au:Austin Clarke 1896-1974, WorldCat, OCLC Online Computer Library Center Inc. Web, Dec. 29, 2013. See also *List of Irish poets References External links ;Poems *Austin Clarke at PoemHunter ("The Blackbird of Derrycairn") *Austin Clarke at Irish Culture & Customs (4 poems) *Austin Clarke at Poetry Nook (45 poems) ;Audio / video *Austin Clarke (1896-1974) at The Poetry Archive *[ Austin Clarke] at YouTube ;About *Austin Clarke *Clarke, Austin by Maurice Harmon *"Austin Clarke and Padraic Fallon" at PN Review Category:1896 births Category:1974 deaths Category:Irish poets Category:Irish dramatists and playwrights Category:Irish novelists Category:Irish memoirists Category:Abbey Theatre Category:People from County Dublin Category:20th-century poets Category:Poets Category:English-language poets